Darin Ruf gets first start at first base for IronPigs

The Phillies believe Darin Ruf's major league future, if he has one, is as a left fielder.

But just in case, they want the 26-year-old slugger to remember how to use his first baseman's glove.

Ruf got his first start at first base Monday night when the IronPigs opened a three-game series with Pawtucket at Coca-Cola Park.

"They want me to be in a spot where I can improve in the outfield but not get too far from first base as well," Ruf said last week of the Phillies expectations of him at Triple-A Lehigh Valley this season.

Ruf was drafted as a first baseman out of Creighton in 2008, but late during his MVP season last year at Reading the Phillies shifted him to left field with an eye on eventually getting his right-handed power bat in the major league lineup with Ryan Howard.

However, the Phillies also want to keep Ruf sharp at first, perhaps as insurance in the event of an injury to Howard, and IronPigs manager Dave Brundage said he expects to play Ruf at first base "maybe a couple times a week.

"It's something he's very familiar with and they don't want him to lose that [feeling of playing first base]," Brundage said. "It's more of a tune-up, just to kind of keep him from getting rusty over there."

Ruf started in left field in each of the first four games and has been solid defensively, and also produced one of the highlight defensive plays so far this season Saturday night with a diving catch on the warning track after a long run to take extra bases away from Syracuse's Corey Brown.

"That was a hell of a play by anyone's standards," Brundage said. "A great play.

"That's what you need; you need him to have some success. He worked his [butt] off in spring training. Every morning he was out there in left field getting line drives and fly balls working hard on it. I see him getting more comfortable out there every day, and sometimes you need a feel-good play to [reinforce] all the hard work, just like a hitter who spends all that time in the cage working on something coming out to hit a double in the gap or whatever. The organization knows he's played a better left field and getting more comfortable."

At the plate Ruf is still looking for his first Triple-A home run but is hitting .294 (5-for-17) with two doubles and three RBI.

Hail Cesar: Don't try to tell Brundage that second baseman Cesar Hernandez is playing in the shadows of some of his more-hyped teammates.

"That's the second time I've heard that today, where Hernandez is so-called not a big name. This organization thinks the world of him," Brundage said. "There's a reason why he's on the 40-man roster and why he's here in Triple-A playing second base every day and hitting second in the lineup. It's because we believe in him."

Hernandez is off to a big start with three multi-hit games, hitting .571 (8-for-17) with three doubles and a triple. He's also walked twice and hasn't struck out. Signed as a 16-year-old amateur free agent out of Venezuela in July of 2006, Hernandez played two years in the Venezuelan Summer League and a year in the Gulf Coast League before hitting Williamsport in 2010.

A year ago he was an Eastern League all-star and was hitting .304 when promoted to the IronPigs in August, where he hit .248 in 30 games.

Although he's only 22, Hernandez already had 1,738 professional at-bats coming into the season.

"He's got more ABs under his belt than some of the other youngsters," said Brundage, who is impressed with the tools the switch-hitter possesses.

"There's not much that he can't do," the manager said. "He plays a good second base, [and] people are surprised that he runs as well as he does. He's got more pop than people realize — he's not just a slap-guy — and he's got a good swing from both sides of the plate. When he physically matures, I think Philadelphia has got something."

New look: The powder-blue jerseys the IronPigs wore on Sunday isn't their only new look.

In a policy change, the Phillies no longer require their minor leaguers to wear the cuff of their pants up under their knees. Of the Nine IronPigs on the field Monday night, only Hernandez was showing his red socks.

Former player personnel director Mike Arbuckle issued the cuffs-up edict in 2006 after the previous two-inch rule was constantly violated.

Assistant minor league director Steve Noworyta said the minor league department under the direction of Joe Jordan felt it was time for give the players the option of wearing their uniforms in the same fashion as most of their major league counterparts.

"But they need to wear it properly," Noworyta said, adding that the pants must have a "snug fit"